Reference to background art herein is not to be construed as an admission that such art constitutes common general knowledge in Australia or elsewhere.
Currently, strain gauges are used to measure strain at points in an excavator arm. The measurements from strain gauges in turn allow the stress and expected fatigue life at points in the excavator arm to be calculated.
Strain gauges are usually attached to the excavator arm by an adhesive. However, as excavator environments are quite harsh, strain gauges and their associated cables often fail or are dislodged from the excavator. This may present a safety issue as the stress experienced by the excavator arm is not measured and/or recorded. This also results in the fatigue life of the points in the excavator arm being overestimated.
In addition, as strain gauges may, for example, be retrofitted to the excavator arm, the specific mounting orientation required for strain gauges to accurately function, contributes to the inconvenience of using strain gauges to measure strain within the excavator arm.